Written Answers Monday 1 March 2011

Scottish Executive

Alcohol Misuse

Dr Richard Simpson (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what progress it has made on implementing the recommendations in the report, A Fuller Life: Report of the Expert Group on Alcohol Related Brain Damage .

Shona Robison: The majority of recommendations contained within the A Fuller Life report, published in 2004, were targeted towards local partnerships and service providers. The main recommendations for the Scottish Government were to raise awareness of alcohol-related brain damage and to support improved local service provision.

  In order to help achieve this, we committed to translating the principles and recommendations of A Fuller Life and the Mind the Gaps reports into practical advice to support joined-up local delivery to improve the awareness, support and service provision for people who have both mental health and substance misuse problems. This was published in Closing the Gaps – Making a Difference in December 2007.

Bees

Murdo Fraser (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what action its directorates have taken in liaising with stakeholders on the future of beekeeping since May 2007.

Richard Lochhead: Scottish Government officials met with stakeholders on 5 March and 17 June 2008, and on 2 April, 20 July, 5 August, 19 August, 11 September and 17 November 2009. Issues discussed at these meetings included a survey of bee colonies to determine the presence of Varroa mites showing resistance to pyrethroid treatments, the Bee Health Strategy for Scotland and the European and American Foulbrood outbreaks.

  The Minister for Environment, Roseanna Cunningham MSP, met with stakeholders on 6 January 2010 to discuss developments in bee health. The Minister made it clear that the Scottish Government was not in a position to offer financial support for European Foulbrood control or compensation to businesses. The Minister agreed that we would look at spend under the EU Apiculture programme; stated that we had committed additional resources for bee inspectors, and that we would develop and enhance our existing resources while working with the industry on a disease control plan for 2010 and on the issue of antibiotic residues. The Minister also stated, without making firm commitments, that we would consider how to support working groups for the Bee Health Strategy and consider the issues raised in the paper tabled by the Bee Farmers Association at the meeting. The Scottish Government will also continue to develop the Bee Health Strategy within the resources available.

  In addition the Scottish Government funded full time apiculture specialist at the Scottish Agricultural College liaises with stakeholders frequently during the provision of training, education and advice.

Crofting

Tavish Scott (Shetland) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-38568 by Roseanna Cunningham on 26 January 2011, whether there are circumstances in which satisfactory accommodation under the terms of the Croft House Grant Scheme could be a one-bedroom property, for example where an assignation is made and agreed by the Crofters Commission to a single person tenant where there was no other applicant for the vacant croft.

Roseanna Cunningham: The purpose of the Croft House Grant Scheme is to improve and maintain the standards of croft housing. If there is an existing one bedroom house on the croft, assistance would be available for any necessary refurbishment or enlargement.

  The Croft House Grant Scheme will not assist the construction of a new one-bedroom property. Assisted new houses must have a minimum of three bedrooms and one living area, in addition to the kitchen and bathroom.

Crofting

Tavish Scott (Shetland) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive how many representations the Section 36 team of its Energy Consents Unit has received (a) in favour of and (b) against the development of each onshore wind farm application received since 1 January 2000.

Jim Mather: This type of aggregate information is not held centrally. The Energy Consents Unit uses a casework method to process applications and has handled in excess of 100 wind farm applications since 2000, details are held separately on each specific case.

  If the member can state the cases which are of interest then information on a case by case basis can be readily supplied.

Drug and Alcohol Misuse

Dr Richard Simpson (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what guidance it has issued to alcohol and drug partnerships regarding meeting the new HEAT targets for drugs and alcohol.

Shona Robison: There are two HEAT targets for alcohol and drugs:

  HEAT A11: to ensure that by March 2013, 90% of clients wait no longer than three weeks from referral received to appropriate drug or alcohol treatment that supports their recovery.

  HEAT H4: to deliver 149,449 alcohol brief interventions (ABIs) in primary care, accident and emergency and antenatal care by March 2011 with an extension to deliver an additional 61,080 ABIs by March 2012.

  With regard to HEAT A11 we have developed guidance on referral pathways (http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Justice/law/DrugsStrategy/recovery/HEAT/referral-pathways) in addition to a national resource, A Wait off Our Shoulders (http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2010/06/02115503/0), which aims to share learning of good practice to improve access to treatment and reduce waiting times through service redesign.

  Further guidance on Drug and Alcohol Treatment Types (www.drugmisuse.isdscotland.org/wtpilot/DATWT_TreatmentTypes_rev.pdf) was published in 2010, which provides alcohol and drug partnerships (ADPs) and specialist services with advice on data entry to the new Scottish Drug and Alcohol Treatment Waiting Times Database.

  Guidance for delivery of the HEAT H4 target on alcohol brief interventions for 2011-12, will be issued to health boards and ADPs by the end of February 2011. This will subsequently be published on the NHS Health Scotland website.

Elections

Murdo Fraser (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what costs it has incurred in respect of (a) local authority and (b) the Scottish Parliament elections in (i) 1999, (ii) 2003 and (iii) 2007, broken down by the relevant categories on the returning officer's forms.

John Swinney: The cost of administering and running local government elections is met by local authorities from their general allocation. The UK Government provides funding to local authorities for costs associated with administering and running the Scottish Parliament elections.

  As a result the Scottish Government has not incurred expenditure against the categories on the returning officer’s forms for these elections.

  The Scottish Government did, however, contribute approximately £4.8 million to the cost of the electronic counting system for the 2007 elections.

Elections

Murdo Fraser (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what costs it has incurred in each year since 1999 regarding the provision of information to the electorate on the (a) operation of and (b) voting system for the Scottish Parliament.

John Swinney: The Scottish Parliament elections are currently the responsibility of the UK Government. Since 2000, the Electoral Commission has been responsible for providing guidance for voters, including information on the operation of and the voting system for the Scottish Parliament. As a result the Scottish Government has not incurred any expenditure on these issues.

  The Scottish Parliament itself also provides public information on the workings of the Parliament and the voting system.

Fisheries

Trish Godman (West Renfrewshire) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what information it has regarding any recent communications to EU fisheries ministers by the International Commission for the Conservation of the Atlantic Tunas and other such bodies anent the likelihood of the extinction of the Atlantic bluefin tuna.

Trish Godman (West Renfrewshire) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what recent discussions have taken place with UK and other EU fisheries ministers concerning the curtailment of the harvesting of bluefin tuna by fishing vessels registered in EU ports.

Richard Lochhead: The Scottish fishing fleet does not exploit opportunities for bluefin tuna and Scottish Ministers have had no recent discussions with their UK or EU counterparts about its exploitation by vessels registered in other EU ports.

Fisheries

Trish Godman (West Renfrewshire) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has discussed proposals for the fisheries research vessel, Scotia, to take on fisheries protection surveillance operations.

Richard Lochhead: The Scottish Government is not considering using its research vessel Scotia for fisheries protection surveillance operations. Accordingly there have been no discussions on this topic.

Health

Dr Richard Simpson (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive, in light of the report in volume 305 of The Journal of the American Medical Association, whether there will be a review of the prescription status of Bevacizamub prescribing in the NHS.

Nicola Sturgeon: The safety of bevacizumab (Avastin) is closely monitored by the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency in conjunction with other European Member States and the European Medicines Agency. The recent publication in the Journal of the American Medical Association which suggested that bevacizumab was associated with an increased risk of fatal adverse effects is being assessed at European level in the context of other information relating to the balance of risk and benefits of Avastin in the treatment of cancer.

Health

Jackie Baillie (Dumbarton) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how many readmissions to hospital there were in the NHS in 2009-10 and have been in 2010-11, broken down by NHS board.

Nicola Sturgeon: Table 1 shows the 28-day hospital emergency readmission rate in the financial years ending 31 March 2009 and 2010, broken down by NHS board of residence. Data for the financial year ending 31   March 2011 will be available in September 2011.

  The period of 28 days is to some extent arbitrary, but has been widely adopted as maximising the trade off between including as many readmissions related to the initial admission as possible and excluding as many unrelated readmissions as possible. The figures include readmissions within 28 days whether or not the readmission was related to the previous hospital stay.

  Table 1: Number of Discharges with a Subsequent Emergency Readmission within 28 days, and Hospital Emergency Readmission Rate as a Percentage of All Discharges, by NHS Board of Residence; Financial Years 2008-09 and 2009-10

  

NHS Board
2008-09
2009-10


Number of Admissions
Number of Re-admissions
% Readmitted
Number of Admissions
Number of Re-admissions
% Readmitted


NHS Ayrshire and Arran
96,809
7,890
8.2%
99,182
8,286
8.4%


NHS Borders
24,750
2,229
9.0%
24,226
2,135
8.8%


NHS Dumfries and Galloway
33,890
2,534
7.5%
34,568
2,490
7.2%


NHS Fife
75,829
5,657
7.5%
75,902
5,501
7.2%


NHS Forth Valley 
46,618
4,069
8.7%
47,004
4,296
9.1%


NHS Grampian
103,144
7,612
7.4%
105,322
7,967
7.6%


NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde
299,948
24,507
8.2%
304,622
24,582
8.1%


NHS Highland
74,866
5,571
7.4%
75,108
5,564
7.4%


NHS Lanarkshire
140,735
10,862
7.7%
142,103
11,,106
7.8%


NHS Lothian
149,002
13,422
9.0%
149,048
12,587
8.4%


NHS Orkney Islands
5,704
318
5.6%
5,652
311
5.5%


NHS Shetland Islands
5,065
315
6.2%
5,251
305
5.8%


NHS Tayside
77,019
6,933
9.0%
71,884
6,835
9.5%


NHS Western Isles
7,668
558
7.3%
7,864
540
6.9%


All Scotland
1,141,047
92,477
8.1%
1,147,736
92,505
8.1%



  Source: ISD Scotland SMR01.

Health

Dr Richard Simpson (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what continuing professional development has been offered to midwives on educating parents on alcohol matters.

Nicola Sturgeon: We would expect all NHS boards to ensure their staff, including midwives, have the relevant continuous professional development required to undertake their role. To support this, NHS Health Scotland has developed materials and resources to support NHS staff in delivering education and intervention in relation to alcohol matters.

  As part of Alcohol Brief Intervention (ABI) HEAT target, antenatal care has been included as one of three priority settings. Work is ongoing to roll out a national training programme, led by NHS Health Scotland, to provide confident and competent practitioners in delivering ABIs. This includes a specifically tailored programme and resources for the antenatal setting.

Health

Dr Richard Simpson (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how many specialist multidisciplinary teams there are to support pregnant women with a drug or alcohol problem, broken down by NHS board.

Shona Robison: This information is not held centrally.

Healthcare Associated Infection

Jackie Baillie (Dumbarton) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive when it was told by the Vale of Leven Hospital Inquiry that there would be a further delay in reporting.

Nicola Sturgeon: Lord MacLean wrote to me on 10 December 2010 informing me that because hearings scheduled for December 2010 had to be cancelled, due to adverse weather, there would be an impact on the overall inquiry timetable and a delay in publishing the final report at the end of May 2011.

  Lord MacLean also advised that, on further investigation of the commissioned witness statements and the evidence gathered, it had become apparent that for the experts to produce high quality and credible reports they would require additional time. It is extremely important that the final report and its recommendations are robust in order that the Scottish Government can consider how these recommendations can assist in continuing to raise the standard of care for patients in Scotland and that the lessons learned can be shared not just across NHS Scotland but worldwide.

  However, I have not yet agreed this further extension. Discussions with Lord MacLean continue and as soon as a date for publishing the final report has been agreed, I will inform the Parliament.

Homelessness

Dr Richard Simpson (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what definition of homeless is used in determining the per-patient fee as part of the national enhanced service for care for homeless people.

Nicola Sturgeon: As defined in the national enhanced services guidance for GP practices, homelessness is described as a wide range of circumstances where people have no secure home and is defined in legislation for the purpose of determining entitlement to assistance and support from public service providers.

  Groups defined as homeless for Healthcare provision include: rough sleepers, hostel/night shelter residents; residents in bed and breakfast premises, squatters; people staying temporarily with friends and family; all those with physical/mental health problems and all vulnerable people who have experienced domestic or racial abuse.

Housing

Mary Mulligan (Linlithgow) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive when the £249 million of investment front-funded by housing associations and cooperatives for building projects in previous years will be repaid.

Alex Neil: The £249 million figure quoted was an estimate made in 2010 and this figure is constantly being reviewed as we manage our budgets over the course of 2010-11. The final amounts and the timing of repayments will therefore not be known until the end of this financial year. Part of the £249 million is for the front funding agreed by Edinburgh and Glasgow City Councils and it will be up to the local authorities to agree with the housing associations and cooperatives that they fund the timing of these repayments. As far as the rest of Scotland is concerned, outwith Glasgow and Edinburgh Transfer of Management of Development Funding agreements, the majority of the estimated housing association front funding is due for repayment and will be repaid in 2011-12; with the bulk of the remainder due for repayment in 2012-13.

Housing

Mary Mulligan (Linlithgow) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what representations it has made to the UK Government regarding the effect of changes in housing benefit on Glasgow’s programme to provide temporary accommodation for homeless people.

Alex Neil: The Scottish Government has made representations to the UK Government on the effect of housing benefit changes throughout Scotland, drawing attention to the pressures the changes will cause to Scottish homelessness policy. This has included writing to Lord Freud, the UK Minister for Welfare Reform and sharing our Scottish Impact Assessment report with the Department for Work and Pensions. The report highlights the high proportion of housing benefit claimants in Glasgow compared to the rest of Scotland and includes a section on temporary accommodation changes.

  The Scottish Impact Assessment Report is available at:

  http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Built-Environment/Housing/supply-demand/chma/marketcontextmaterials/hbchangesscottishimpact/ 

  We recognise that Glasgow City Council, in common with the other five stock-transferred local authorities, faces an additional financial pressure with these changes, as it is unable to provide temporary accommodation from its own stock. We have already commenced discussions with Glasgow City Council on the extent of the impact of this.

  Our ongoing partnership work with the Regional Housing Options Hubs seeks to promote a greater focus on homeless prevention via the Housing Options approach. This approach has received an enthusiastic welcome from local authorities and the work of hubs continues to move forward at an encouraging pace. However there are very real concerns from within the hubs that changes to Housing Benefit and the resultant impact on homelessness budgets is highly likely to hinder the successful progress of the Housing Options approach across the country.

  The Scottish Government/COSLA Joint 2012 Steering Group on Homelessness has also very recently produced a report on the management of temporary accommodation, which outlines specific areas that local authorities may wish to consider as options to improve efficiency and realise savings in temporary homeless accommodation provision. A copy of the report is available at:

  http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Built-Environment/Housing/access/homeless/2012Target/tempaccom.

Housing

Mary Mulligan (Linlithgow) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how many houses will be built under the £50 million Innovation and Investment Fund.

Alex Neil: We plan that around 1,500 houses will be built under the £50 million Innovation and Investment Fund. However this will depend upon the bids received for the fund.

Housing

Rhoda Grant (Highlands and Islands) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what the budget for rural home ownership grants was in 2009-10 and has been in 2010-11.

Alex Neil: The budget for rural home ownership grants in 2009-10 was £1.002 million and the budget for 2010-11 is £0.742 million.

Housing

Mary Mulligan (Linlithgow) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how many houses were sold under shared equity schemes in 2009-10 and have been sold in 2010-11.

Alex Neil: In 2009-10 the number of properties purchased under the Scottish Government’s shared equity schemes was 1,979.

  Between April and December 2010, the number of properties purchased under the Scottish Government’s shared equity schemes was 657.

  This information is recorded on the sales log monitoring database from returns completed y registered social landlords administering the New Supply Shared Equity scheme throughout Scotland. Due to the nature of the collection, there can be a time lag between the sale occurring and being recorded on the database.

  An update to Housing Statistics for Scotland will be published at the end of May 2011 on the Scottish Government website at:

  http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Statistics.

  This will include the number of sales for the period December 2010 to March 2011.

Housing

Mary Mulligan (Linlithgow) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how many houses it anticipates will be sold under shared equity schemes in 2011-12.

Alex Neil: We aim to assist around 535 households to access home ownership in 2011-12 under the New Supply Shared Equity with Developers scheme and the Open Market Shared Equity scheme. In addition, the Scottish Government has also announced a £50 million Innovation and Investment Fund scheme. New housing for shared equity will be eligible for funding under this scheme. Applications for funding are currently due to be received at the end of May 2011 and details on allocations will be announced in summer 2011.

Justice

George Foulkes (Lothians) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether the Cabinet Secretary for Justice met the Chief Constable of Lothian and Borders Police to discuss the future of forensic services in Scotland before a decision was reached and whether the cabinet secretary asked the chief constable to meet him.

Kenny MacAskill: I has regular one to one meetings with the Chief Constables of all eight forces to discuss a range of matters.

  I gave careful consideration to the written submissions received from all eight forces in response to the Scottish Police Services Authority’s forensics modernisation options paper published in July last year, prior to a decision being made.

Justice

Richard Baker (North East Scotland) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the Cabinet Secretary for Justice’s comments to the Justice Committee on 28 May 2009 that the Scottish Government wants "to ensure that the proceeds of crime go back to agencies so that we have that virtuous circle" and that it "will work with ACPOS to try to strike a balance" ( Official Report , c. 18006), whether it considers that the majority of the money should be reinvested through CashBack for Communities to invest in communities that have suffered crime and in activities that will reduce crime.

Kenny MacAskill: The vast majority of recoveries in Scotland under proceeds of crime legislation has been invested through the CashBack for Communities programme, with a commitment of over £30.5 million from 2008-14. Such funds have been used in a positive way to expand young people’s horizons and increase the opportunities they have to develop their interests and skills, demonstrated by over 300,000 young participants across Scotland. This programme remains an effective way to create diversionary activities for young people, focussing their delivery to benefit communities that have suffered as a result of criminal activity.

  This commitment includes £6.5 million to Youthlink Scotland to provide funding for projects which further support young people involved, or at risk from violence, alcohol, drugs or antisocial behaviour.

Justice

Gavin Brown (Lothians) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive how many people have been charged with stealing petrol from cars in each of the last three years, broken down by sheriff court.

Kenny MacAskill: The information requested is not held centrally. We are unable to separately identify theft of petrol from vehicles within Scottish Government court proceedings data.

Mental Health

Dr Richard Simpson (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has an agreement with child and adolescent mental health services on the target number of in-patient beds for children and adolescents.

Shona Robison: We are working closely with NHS boards to ensure that the number of specialist beds matches the need and demand of children and adolescents. We are also encouraging NHS boards to develop their community based intensive outreach services in order to enable children and young people to return to their own communities at an earlier stage of their recovery.

  Since 2009 the Scottish Government have invested an additional £2 million annually to support these developments which shorten the time young people have to be in hospital and free up capacity for others who require admission.

  We are operating a regional model of service delivery and presently have 51 beds with plans in place to increase the size of the Dundee Unit (which serves the North of Scotland Boards) from six beds to 12 and this will take the total bed numbers in Scotland to 57.

Mental Health

Dr Richard Simpson (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether the Royal College of Psychiatry or child and adolescent mental health services staff have made a recommendation on the appropriate number of in-patient beds for child and adolescent patients.

Shona Robison: We have been working closely with NHS boards to determine the number of beds that would best meet the needs and demand of the children and adolescent population in Scotland. We have also been working on encouraging the development of new models of service delivery which either shorten admissions or act as alternatives to admissions.

  The 2005 report Building and Sustaining Specialist Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services by the Royal College of Psychiatrists, recommended 20 to 40 inpatient beds per 1 million population across each of the five jurisdictions (England, Scotland, Wales Northern Ireland and the Irish Republic).

  The Scottish Executive inpatient working group recommended in its document Psychiatric Inpatient Services for Children and Young People in Scotland: A way Forward, that "planning should commence now for a phased increase to 60 psychiatric inpatient places for young people in Scotland with ongoing review of need and demand."

  We are operating a regional model of service delivery and presently have 51 beds with plans in place to increase the size of the Dundee unit (which serves the North of Scotland Boards) from six beds to 12 and this will take the total bed numbers for children and young people in Scotland to 57.

Mental Health

Jackie Baillie (Dumbarton) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what funding will be provided for the Choose Life programme in 2011-12.

Shona Robison: Funding for Choose Life in 2011-12 is wrapped up within the total funding allocation to NHS Health Scotland of £1.4 million. Based on previous budget allocation, approximately 50% of this will be spent on Choose Life.

  Under the concordat between the Scottish Government and COSLA, funding for local suicide prevention action is wrapped up in general allocations to local authorities.

Mental Health

Jackie Baillie (Dumbarton) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how funding for the Choose Life programme has been distributed in each year since May 2007.

Shona Robison: I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-36286 on 28 September 2010. All answers to parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/Apps2/Business/PQA/Default.aspx .

Ministerial Meetings

Hugh O'Donnell (Central Scotland) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive when it last met members of the Scottish Section of the Showmen’s Guild of Great Britain and Ireland.

Alex Neil: The Scottish Government has not had any recent requests from the Scottish Section of the Showmen’s Guild of Great Britain and Ireland for a meeting. I last met with members of the Scottish section on 27 May 2009 and the First Minister hosted a reception for the Guild at Stirling Castle on 27 October 2009.

  We have a constructive relationship with the Guild, and on 26 November 2010 an official attended the Scottish Section’s annual luncheon in Glasgow. One of the issues raised at the event was the setting up of a Scottish Parliament Cross-Party Group for Showmen. Whilst this is not a matter for the Scottish Government, we would very much welcome the setting up of such a group.

National Health Service

Helen Eadie (Dunfermline East) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what the implications have been of the increase in Minor Ailments Service prescriptions in the last four years.

Shona Robison: The number of patients registered for the Minor Ailment Service (MAS) is steadily growing and registrations have risen from 556,840 to 722,209 people over four years. It is used mainly by patients aged under 16 and over 60.

  The Gross Ingredient Cost of items dispensed under the MAS in 2009-10 was £2.87 million with an average cost per item of £2.03. Patients appreciate the MAS which plays an important part in improving access to NHS healthcare advice and treatment and it helps free up GP time to see patients with more serious complaints.

  Further statistics on the MAS are available on the NHS National Services Scotland website at http://www.isdscotland.org/isd/5033.html.

Planning

Ken Macintosh (Eastwood) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what emphasis it places on the views of the Scottish Environment Protection Agency when considering an application for consent under section 36 of the Electricity Act 1989.

Jim Mather: The Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA), Scottish Natural Heritage and the local planning authority are statutory consultees in the Section 36 consultation process and are invited to comment on applications and the environmental statement produced by developers.

  The views of SEPA along with the other statutory consultees are a material consideration for ministers in their decision making process.

Planning

Ken Macintosh (Eastwood) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether a significant volume of heavy industrial traffic to and from a plant generating electricity from waste products would be a factor when considering an application for consent under section 36 of the Electricity Act 1989.

Jim Mather: Yes. Traffic assessment impacts are a material consideration in any planning application and in particular with those applications which are industrial in nature.

  Applications to Scottish ministers for power stations, and those for significant power lines, need to be accompanied by an environmental statement which describes the effects the development is likely to have on the environment.

  The environmental statement covers all elements that the development may have an impact upon, both in the construction phase of developments and in their day to day operations.

  Scotland has a robust consenting system and Scottish Ministers will always seek to strike the right balance between developing and delivering Scotland's energy future and protecting environmental, cultural heritage, economic and community issues.

Planning

Ken Macintosh (Eastwood) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether the location of a waste disposal and electricity generation plant within a two miles of a suburban neighbourhood would be a factor when considering an application for consent under section 36 of the Electricity Act 1989.

Jim Mather: Yes. The location and proximity of neighbouring communities and dwellings in relation to proposed developments are a material consideration in any planning application.

  Applications to Scottish ministers for power stations, and those for significant power lines, need to be accompanied by an environmental statement which describes the effects the development is likely to have on the environment.

  The environmental statement covers all elements that the development may have an impact upon, both in the construction of developments and in their day to day operations.

  The application and the environmental statement are made available locally for public inspection. The local planning authority and public statutory bodies such as Scottish Natural Heritage and the Scottish Environment Protection Agency are invited to comment on the application; their views and representations made to ministers by members of the public and other interested parties are considered during the decision making process.

  Scotland has a robust consenting system in place and Scottish ministers will always seek to strike the right balance between developing and delivering Scotland's energy future and protecting environmental, cultural heritage, economic and community issues.

Planning

Ken Macintosh (Eastwood) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether the location of a waste disposal and electricity generation plant on a green field site in the countryside would be a factor when considering an application for consent under section 36 of the Electricity Act 1989.

Jim Mather: Yes. Green field sites are a material consideration in any planning application.

  Applications to Scottish ministers for power stations, and those for significant power lines, need to be accompanied by an environmental statement which describes the effects the development is likely to have on the environment.

  The environmental statement covers all elements that the development may have an impact upon, both in the construction phase of developments and in their day to day ongoing operations.

  The applications, and the environmental statement, are made available locally for public inspection. The local planning authority and public statutory bodies such as Scottish Natural Heritage and the Scottish Environment Protection Agency are invited to comment on the application; their views and representations made to ministers by members of the public and other interested parties are considered during the decision making process.

  Scotland has a robust consenting system in place for section 36 applications and Scottish ministers will always seek to strike the right balance between developing and delivering Scotland's energy future and protecting environmental, cultural heritage, economic and community issues.

Police

Stewart Maxwell (West of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what it expects police officer numbers to be in the first two quarters of 2011.

Kenny MacAskill: Our official projections are that there will be 17,270 police officers (full-time equivalent) on 31 March 2011 and 17,292 on 30 June 2011, 1,036 and 1,058 respectively above the baseline figure of 16,234 at 31 March 2007.

  A new study setting out official projected police officer numbers on 31 March and 30 June 2011 was published on the Scottish Government website on 1 March 2011 at:

  http://scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Justice/public-safety/Police/facts/PoliceOfficerNumbers.

Transport

Jackson Carlaw (West of Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what progress is being made on each project mentioned in the Strategic Transport Projects Review including (a) actual or planned starting date, (b) actual or estimated completion date, (c) actual expenditure to date and (d) planned or estimated future expenditure.

Keith Brown: Our priority projects remain the Forth Replacement Crossing, Edinburgh to Glasgow Improvements Programme, Highland Mail Line and the Aberdeen to Inverness line. We expect to deliver these projects by 2017.

  We are also working with partners and stakeholders to take forward the other projects, including:

  The design and development of the A9, with design work for dualling currently being undertaken between Birnam and the Jubilee Bridge;

  Early design work on the A96 to identify solutions for upgrading the section between Inverness and Nairn to dual carriageway and a new Inveramsay Bridge;

  Developing a long term vision for the A82 to improve its overall standard and safety;

  Developing a public transport strategy for the Forth Replacement Crossing which will include funding for a Park and Ride Site and investigation of Rapid Transit on the Crossing approaches;

  Developing a number of Park and Ride sites, including at Dalcross, Dyce (A96), Forgan and outside Ayr (M77);

  The production of a plan for rail improvements in Glasgow and the west of Scotland through the West of Scotland Strategic Rail Enhancements Steering Group; and

  Working with Network Rail to explore options to enhance the Aberdeen to central belt lines and develop phase two of the electrification of the rail network.

  As all these projects will require many stages to be undertaken, including detailed design and development work, a significant amount of work will have to be carried out before we are able to set out a programme and associated timescales for their delivery.

  The estimated costs for these projects will emerge as the detailed design and development work moves forward.

Wind Farms

Murdo Fraser (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will require a public local inquiry to be held into the proposal for the Viking wind farm on Shetland and what the reasons are for its position on this matter.

Jim Mather: Given the role of Scottish ministers in determining this application it would be inappropriate to comment on its specifics at this stage. A decision will be made on this application in due course.